


Being Human Sucks, Until it Doesn't

by yellowcurtains



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Caring Stiles Stilinski, Comfort, Derek loses his powers, Fluff, Grumpy Derek, M/M, Medical Procedures, Needles, Sick Derek Hale, fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 13:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16175576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowcurtains/pseuds/yellowcurtains
Summary: Set sometime in season 4 when Derek loses his werewolf powers. There's no Braeden and Derek and Stiles are friends, pining for each other.Derek getting sick was bound to happen sometime after losing his werewolf powers. Stiles to the rescue. Fluff happens.





	Being Human Sucks, Until it Doesn't

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, I'm back with another sick fic, sorry, is my weakness. This is not beta'd so I'm sorry for any mistakes you might find. I'll come another time to re-read and fix it. Hope you like this :)
> 
> Comments and kudos are very, very much appreciated <3

Stiles’ POV

Derek getting sick was bound to happen sometime after losing his werewolf powers, which is why Stiles decides that is time to take Derek to the hospital when his throat is getting more swollen by the minute, small, white spots appearing. He himself has had this before and knows is no fun at all. He remembers the sharp pain he felt every time he tried to swallow, even his own saliva and the high fever, shivers and general shitty feeling all over his body. He also remembers not wanting to go to the doctor, knowing what it would mean to go. He always fought with his dad ‘til the end, despite how awful he was feeling, maintaining a stubborn look that only he could pull off, until the older man put that stern Sheriff look that meant _I’m not shitting with this, you’re not backing out, you have no say in the matter and that’s final_ , so Stiles had no other option but go, which is why he is having the current discussion with certain Sourwolf, right now. Derek has that same stubborn look when Stiles mentioned he had made an appointment at the hospital earlier.

 

“Derek, I know you’ve never been to a doctor’s appointment before but your fever is getting higher and your swollen throat is starting to worry me a lot, okay buddy?, we _need_ to go".

 

Even when Derek’s cheeks where flushed from the fever, his hair a mess and shivering like a Chihuahua, he manages to give his best Hale patented glare to Stiles. But Stiles being Stiles, ignores him like a champ and starts taking some warm clothes from Derek’s closet for him to wear to the doctor while speaking, “Sorry bud, you know those angry eyebrows don’t work on me anymore”, Stiles turns to hand him the clothes and gives Derek what he hopes is a good representation of his father’s Sheriff look, “you’re not getting out of this, I already made the appointment. Also Melissa did the impossible to squeeze you in today so she’ll kill you if you don’t go”.

 

Derek changes the glare for a (adorable) pout and reluctantly begins to get dressed. Stiles lifts Derek’s chin to make him look at him, “Hey, it’s going to be fine, you’ll feel better after this, promise”, Stiles says, softly smiling down at Derek. Derek holds Stiles’ gaze for a moment, nods and averts his eyes.

 

They leave the loft and climb into Stiles’ Jeep. It takes them about twenty minutes to get to the hospital. Once there Stiles leaves Derek sitting on a chair to go ask for Melissa. The nurse at the reception calls for her and a few minutes later, purple scrubs and dark curls appear in front of him.

 

“Hey kiddo”, Melissa says giving Stiles a brief hug, “where’s Derek?” she asks.

 

“Hey Mel”, Stiles says and hugs her back, “he’s sitting there, he’s been feeling a bit shaky since this morning, so I just left him there to rest a bit”, Stiles points to where said man is, his eyes softening at the sight of him. Melissa gives Stiles a knowing look and he averts his eyes, embarrassed. Is not his fault he can’t hide his feelings to save his life, okay?

 

They check Derek in and then move to where he’s sitting with his eyes closed. His face is scrunched up in what must be pain from all the noise going on in the hospital. He did complain about a headache a few hours ago but pained tears ran down his cheeks when he tried to swallow Tylenol earlier.

Melissa squats down in front of Derek and puts a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently, “Hey buddy, how’re you feeling?” she says and Derek opens his fever glazed eyes to look at her.

 

“Been better”, he croaks out and winces.

 

Melissa tuts sympathetically, “it’s okay, we’ll make you feel good as new, how does that sound?” she tells him and Derek only nods in response. Stiles knows Derek hates when people treat him like a child, so this is proof of how shitty he’s feeling but fuck it, Derek deserves to be coddled once in a while, overall when he’s sick and miserable. “Come on, I’ll take you back now so the doctor can take a look at you”, Melissa says and Stiles gives Derek an encouraging look, takes his phone out and sits in a chair, making himself ready to wait for Derek but as Derek is standing up, he takes Stiles’ wrist in his hand and tries to pull him up, unsuccessfully due to the weak state he’s in and Stiles flails a bit, not expecting the touch.

 

“Come”, Derek mouths and Stiles opens and closes his mouth, not knowing what to say.

 

“You want me to come with you?” he says and the werewolf nods, “are you sure? It could be uncomfortable for you, the doctor might want to give you a sho…”, Stiles babbles and Melissa gives him a _God, give me patience_ look.

 

“Stiles, we don’t have all day, come on, he wants you to come, so get up already!” Melissa cuts him off in the middle of his rambling, tapping her foot on the floor.

 

Stiles lifts both hand in surrender, “okay, okay!, no need to be so mean! I’ll go with you Der, if that’s what you want”, Stiles says looking at said man and he nods again.

 

The three of them make their way to the doctor’s office and Melissa washes her hands and starts gathering stuff from the cabinets while Stiles sits in a chair.

 

“Alright Derek, I’ll take your temperature and pressure before the doctor comes. Take a seat in the exam table, take one arm out of your shirt and I’ll put this under your armpit. You have to hold it tightly with your arm, okay honey?”, Melissa says, turning the digital thermometer on and waits for Derek to do as told to put it under his arm. Derek flinches when the tip makes contact with his hot skin but holds his arm close to his torso and they wait for the beep to come from the device. Once it comes, Melissa takes it from Derek to read it. “Well, you are one sick man” the nurse says, making notes in a chart she was keeping on the exam table.

 

“How high is it?” Stiles asks, “last we checked was 102”.

 

“It’s 102.5 now. Good call on bringing him in Stiles, his fever is pretty high. No wonder you’re feeling so shitty Derek” Melissa says, directing his face to look at Derek. “Now I’ll take your blood pressure”. She gathers the stethoscope, stopwatch and sphygmomanometer and starts the procedure using the same arm that was uncovered from the temp taking.

 

Derek scrunches up his face in discomfort when the cuff starts to inflate and Stiles looks fondly at him. All of this is surely new for someone like Derek, whose healing abilities prevent him from having to get even a simple checkup.

 

Melissa finishes with the blood pressure and unhooks Derek from the device, puts the items aside and makes more notes on the chart. She then proceeds to feel Derek lymph nodes and makes more notes. “Alrighty, I’ll call the doctor now. You can lie down if you want, I can see you’re exhausted” the nurse says and makes her way out of the room.

 

Derek goes to lies down on the exam table with a bit of trouble and Stiles jumps up from the chair to help him, “Easy, big guy, let me help you” Stiles says and takes Derek by the arms, lowering him gently down on the table on his side and rubs his arm soothingly, receiving a small smile from the wolf.

 

They wait a few more minutes until a middle aged woman enters the room “Hello boys, I’m Doctor Carter” she says smiling and they both return the smile.

 

“Hi, I’m Stiles, this is Derek”, Stiles says helping Derek sit back up.

 

“Nice to meet you both” she responds, “so Derek, what seems to be the problem?” Dr. Carter says while taking a look at the chart Melissa was scribbling in earlier.

 

“He has a really sore throat since the day before yesterday and a fever, which has been pretty high today. This morning I checked his throat and he has some white spots on his tonsils. He’s pretty shaky and has had a headache for a couple hours now but couldn’t take anything for it since he can’t swallow anything non-liquid” Stiles says in one breath and looks at the Doctor with wide eyes when he realizes he responded to the question directed to Derek. “Sorry!” he almost yells and winces alongside Derek from his high pitched tone, “it’s just that he can’t really talk right now so I thought it would be easier to just tell you myself” Stiles says lower and looks down to his feet but soon feels a squeeze on his hand resting on the exam table from Derek and a shoulder squeeze from the Doctor, that’s now standing in front of them.

 

“Stiles, calm down, it’s okay. If this is what I suspect it is, I know patients can’t voice anything so you did good. Now, I’m going to check Derek over so you can sit on the chair if you want”, Dr. Carter smiles motherly at him. She turns to Derek, “okay mister, let’s take a look. Open your mouth for me, please” she tells Derek and he obeys. The woman turns a pen torch on and puts a stick to lower Derek’s tongue, making his eyes water a bit. “Yep, I can see the pus on your tonsils” Carter says turning off the torch and throwing the stick on the nearby bin. She then feels Derek’s lymph nodes, same as Melissa before. “Okay, can you take your shirt off Derek? I need to listen to your heart and lungs” she asks. The werewolf takes his shirt off and the Doctor motions for him to sit properly on the table, with his legs on top of it too. She places the stethoscope that’s hanging from her neck on her ears and starts pressing it in different places around Derek’s chest and back. “Take deep breaths when I tell you to, please” she says and Derek nods, closing his eyes. Stiles knows he does that when he wants to concentrate on something, “deep breath” she says while pressing the instrument somewhere in Derek’s back and the man breathes deeply in and holds it, “and let it out” she says, and Derek’s shoulders deflate with the exhale. They repeat this a couple more times and then she presses the stethoscope on Derek’s heart at the same time she’s watching her wrist watch.

The doctor finishes her exam with a few more tests and makes more notes on the chart. “Okay Derek, I’m 95% positive you have Streptococcal pharyngitis or strep throat for short. I have, however, to do a rapid test to see if it is the bacteria that’s present in strep throat or if it’s another type. I don’t know if you’ve had it done before?”, she says while looking at Derek. At his head shake she adds, “Well, it’s not exactly pleasant but it’ll only take a few seconds”. Derek nods in response, though he looks a bit nervous, and she stars collecting the items necessary for the procedure.

 

“Alright”, Dr. Carter says snapping some gloves on, “I need you to tilt your head back and open your mouth widely and I’m going to rub this swab on your throat but I need you to try not to gag”. Derek gives another shaky nod and does as told. “If you feel like gagging, breathe deeply through your nose and don’t close your mouth, okay?”, she says and proceeds to take the sample. She introduces the swab and Derek flinches in response but closes his eyes and starts breathing deeply. It looks like he’s about to gag but, luckily, the doctor finishes before that happens. “All done Derek. This’ll take about five minutes to give us a result. In the meantime I’ll ask you a few questions; are you allergic to something?” she asks and Derek shakes his head. “You sure? Allergic to any antibiotic or medication?” she asks again and Derek shakes his head again, “okay, awesome, that takes away a lot of complications” she says, smiling at him.

 

~O~

 

Derek’s POV

Getting a checkup hasn’t been something Derek has ever experienced before. Sure, Deaton had patched them up more than once but this is different. Everything feels awfully painful without his werewolf healing, from the headache to the sharp sting in his throat every time he attempts to swallow even the littlest amount of saliva, and the fact that some stranger is prodding and poking at him is not exactly helping his misery. The doctor is nice and Derek has tried not to be too whiney throughout the whole ordeal but being human sucks, _no offense Stiles_. And now, this lady is rubbing a _huge_ _Q-tip_ on his throat and is the most disgusting feeling in the world.

 

 _Stop being such a baby_ _Derek,_ Stiles would be saying.

 

The doctor asks him if he’s allergic to something. What does that have to do with anything? If he was allergic to strawberries wouldn’t matter ‘cause he’s still sick!

 

“You sure? Allergic to any antibiotic or medication?”, she asks and _oooh, that’s what she meant_. He shakes his head, _again_ , since speaking is out of the question. “Okay, awesome, that takes away a lot of complications” she says smiling and Derek tries his best to smile back.

 

They wait the five minutes it takes the test to work and in the meanwhile he looks at everything in the office. It’s not that different from Deaton’s office but the posters are different. His eyes go over every spot in the room until they land on Stiles, who’s distracted by one of the posters, chewing on one of his hoody’s strings. Derek notices how long and pale his neck is, that cute upturned nose, those moles and freckles that paint his face and _Jesus, Derek, what the fuck._ Stiles seems to sense that Derek’s looking at him because he turns his head with wide eyes that turn soft when they meet the wolf’s. He smiles softly at Derek and Derek is _so gone_ on him is not even funny. They stare at each other for what seems like an eternity and the werewolf starts to smile when…

“Okay! Time’s up boys, let’s see”, Dr. Carter says making the both of them jump at the sudden voice and focus their attention on the woman. She takes a look at the little white device. “Seems that my suspicions were correct, you do have strep throat. See, there’s two lines, one’s the control and this one indicates that the test is positive” she says, showing the test to Derek. Derek doesn’t really know why she has to show it to him, she’s the doctor after all but he appreciates the sentiment, he supposes. He nods to let her know that he understands and then pulls a face that he hopes she understands as _what’s next_.

 

“So I guess that means he needs the dreaded antibiotic?” Stiles says, apparently answering his question when the doctor says that yes, he needs the “dreaded antibiotic”, whatever that means.

 

The doctor seems to notice his questioning look, “Derek, for this condition we need to use Penicillin G Benzathine or Bicillin which has to be administered via intramuscular injection” she explains, and Derek’s hand immediately goes to rub his arm, “Oh no honey, it doesn’t go in your arm, this shot is very thick and if I have to be honest, rather unpleasant so it has to go in a larger muscle such as the buttock” she says and Derek’s eyes widen. _In his butt? Really?_ He has never experienced having to get a shot, but didn’t think the first time would be showing his butt to some stranger. He looks at Stiles for help and the boy immediately goes to stand next to him rubbing his arm up and down. “I’d also like to give you some acetaminophen since you can’t really swallow at the moment because your fever is high and you have a headache. That’ll help you sleep comfortably when you get home” the doctor continues, starting to collect the needed items for the injections, oblivious to Derek’s panic. _Two shots?_

 

“Hey, look at me, it’s okay. This’ll be over quickly and before you know you’ll be feeling good as new”, Stiles says smiling, placing a gentle hand on Derek’s cheek. “I’m not the best at handling needles, you kind of know that already” he chuckles, remembering the time he fainted when Scott got his ugly looking tattoo and then again when Derek turned on the torch to make it stay, “but believe me, it’s worth the pain because strep throat is ten times worse”, he finishes with an encouraging smile and Derek just melts inside, panic forgotten for the moment, until he hears vials breaking and some ripping sounds. He turns to look at the doctor and sees that the ripping noise is the syringes being open and the panic and embarrassment from the shot comes as quickly as it went away with the sweet words. Stiles seems to notice his discomfort once again because he puts on his thinking face and asks, “would you like me to bring Melissa to give you the medicine?”

 

Derek thinks about it for a second and doesn’t know if it would be more embarrassing that Melissa, a woman he knows and sees a lot, gives him the shots _in his butt_ or if it would be reassuring that she did it _because_ he knows her. He decides that he trusts Melissa and that she must be used to seeing naked asses all day and still be professional about it.

 

“Melissa”, he croaks painfully and Stiles nods, turning to the doctor, who’s still preparing everything.

 

“Excuse me, doc?” Stiles asks and the woman turns around to look at him.

 

“Yes, honey?” she says.

 

“Would it be possible to bring Melissa in to do the shots? It’s not that we don’t trust you to do a good job!” he says quickly, a bit panicked maybe, that the doctor would be offended, “it’s just that Derek is really nervous and we both know Melissa well, so… yeah, would that be possible?”, Stiles asks in one breath.

 

The woman looks at him perplexed for a moment, probably trying to register the words bombarded at her, and nods slowly after. “Ummm…sure, buddy. I’ll call her in and in the meanwhile I’ll write a prescription for Derek and some instructions to take care of himself at home, is that alright with you, honey?” she says this last part looking at Derek.

 

Derek nods. “Thank you” he rasps and relaxes his shoulders at the possibility to have someone he trusts poking him with a sharp object. _Two_ , he remembers. He takes a deep breath and settles to wait for the doctor to call the nurse to the room. He feels warm hands running up and down his arms and looks up to see Stiles distractingly looking towards the door the doctor just disappeared to while running his thumbs on Derek’s biceps. The younger boy seems to feel Derek’s gaze because he looks back to him.

 

“Don’t worry; Melissa is the best at giving shots. Believe me, this butt knows the difference between her and other nurses” Stiles says patting his own ass and winking at Derek. Derek chuckles in response and they hear the door opening again, revealing a smiling Melissa.

 

“Well Derek, it seems that you need the “dreaded antibiotic”, huh?” she says and Derek’s starting to suspect that Stiles denominated the medicine as the “dreaded antibiotic”. _Was it really that bad?_. “We’ll try to do this as quickly and with the least discomfort as possible but is not a nice shot, okay? I know you’ve never had one so it will probably feel worse for you, I’m not gonna lie, but you’ll feel much, much better afterwards, promise” she smiles reassuringly at Derek and finishes preparing the items the doctor left.

 

“I’ll hold your hand if you want” Stiles tells Derek, beaming and Derek glares at him feigning anger but is actually to hide his embarrassment and excitement about the prospect of having Stiles holding his hand.

 

“Alrighty, we’re ready. Derek, honey, I need you to lie down on your tummy on the table and put your pants down a little” Melissa tells Derek, carrying a metal tray to the exam table. “I’m going to give you the acetaminophen first and then we’ll go with the antibiotic” she continues and Derek takes a deep breath before moving to take the commanded position, only then realizing that Stiles was still rubbing his arms. _Stiles!_ _He is going to be here for this, this wasn’t the way I wanted him to see me naked, or well, partly naked._

 

“Oh! I’m not going to look, if that’s what you’re worried about” Stiles says, cheeks flushing and Derek notices that his own cheeks were burning at the thought of the other boy seeing him.

 

Stiles steps back a little and Derek turns to lie face down on the crinkly table and lifts his hips a little to lower his pants, just enough so that the upper part of his feverish ass cheeks are exposed to the cold air of the room. Once he’s settled, Stiles makes his way to stand in front of Derek’s head and puts a hand on his shoulder, squeezing.

 

He hears Melissa putting the tray at the foot of the exam table and hears some paper ripping and the smell of alcohol invades his human nose.

 

“This will be cold but it’s just the antiseptic” Melissa says and Derek feels something wet and cold rubbing his left cheek in a circular motion. He then hears the nurse tapping her nail on the syringe, just like some movies he’s seen and the nerves come again; his breathing stars to pick up a little and he squeezes his eyes tightly in anticipation when he feels Stiles’ fingers entwine with his, rubbing his thumb softly across the back of his hand. That gesture grounds him a little so he takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. “Here we go, you need to breathe through it, that’s essential for minimal pain and relax your butt, honey, this’ll be over in a second” the nurse continues and that’s when Derek feels her hand spreading his skin, asks him to take a deep breath and feels the sharp pinch of the needle going through his flesh when he’s exhaling, yelping in surprise, clenching his jaw and squeezing Stiles’ hand even tighter. He then feels cold liquid going through the muscle, which is a strange sensation but it’s not so bad, he can handle this little discomfort. As quickly as it came it ends and he feels Melissa pressing a cotton ball on the wound. “Okay, one down, one more to go” she says and opens another antiseptic pad and rubs it on his right cheek.

 

“I thought you didn’t want me to hold your hand” Stiles says, smirking down at Derek and Derek lifts the middle finger that is currently entwined with the other boy’s, pulling a snort out of him.

 

Derek hears Melissa tapping another syringe but this time he doesn’t panic, knowing that it’s actually not that bad after all. He relaxes further and feels the nurse spreading his right cheek’s skin, asks him again to take a breath and on the exhale the sharp sting of the needle hits him again, though this time he doesn’t yelp, but can’t help but clench his ass a little, quickly trying to relax again. “Honey, keep breathing, this part sucks” she says and starts pressing on the plunger.

 

Remember when Derek said it couldn’t be _that bad_? Well, it is _that bad_. The thick, _thick_ medicine makes its way through the muscle as if it was made of crystals and he groans in pain, clenching his butt, his whole leg actually, and his breathing picks up again, air making its way roughly in and out of his nostrils. Melissa stops administering the antibiotic and starts rubbing his back with her free hand. “I know, baby, it hurts like a bitch but I need you to relax or this will cause a huge lump and we don’t want that” she says softly and waits patiently for him.

 

Derek tries, but just remembering the pain makes it impossible for him to unclench his muscles. Stiles picks his hand up and brings it to his mouth, leaving soft kisses on the back of it and then rubs it against the side of his face while petting his hair with the other “It’s alright Der, just relax, it’ll be over in a few minutes” Stiles says, his sweet eyes looking down at him reassuringly, and moves the hand petting his hair to brush the back of his fingers on Derek’s temple. The effect is immediate; his whole body melts and Melissa keeps pressing on the plunger. He groans in pain but doesn’t tense again, just waits patiently for it to be over. When Melissa is like half way through ( _God, how much of it is left_ ) a tear escapes his eye and his face flames with shame.

 

“Hey, don’t be ashamed, it happens to the best of us” Stiles tells him, brushing the tear away and smiles sweetly down at Derek. “Did I tell you about that time I fell off a tree trying to bring down Mrs. Foster’s cat and they had to give me 10 stitches on my leg? Well, that was awful because as soon as Melissa came with the anesthetic I cried like a baby and then passed out. Lucky for me, when I woke up my leg was bandaged and I was pretty high on painkillers so I didn’t have to see myself getting stitched up” Stiles tells him, chuckling and he hears Melissa doing the same. That distracts him enough to forget the pain a little and smile into the flat pillow under his head.

 

“Reckless, is what this kid is. I can’t even count how many times John brought him here to get patched up” Melissa says.

 

After what seems like an eternity, the needle is finally out and Melissa rubs another cotton ball against the wound, pressing and making circular motions for the medicine to spread thoroughly. She places a plaster on the spot and puts his pants back in place. She collects everything that she used and disposes of the needles in the sharp-objects container and the rest on the trash can by the bed.

 

Stiles places one last kiss to Derek’s hand and lets it go, so that the wolf can sit up. Derek takes a few seconds to recompose and sits up, immediately regretting it when his sore ass presses on the bed. He groans and stands up, rubbing the sensitive spot and hears Stiles chuckle softly.

 

“As I said, “dreaded antibiotic”, Stiles says, wrinkling his nose in sympathy. “You alright, big guy? He asks Derek and said man nods in response, feeling his cheeks burn in shame again. “Don’t be embarrassed, I won’t tell anyone” Stiles winks and turns to where Melissa is standing, watching the two of them interact.

 

“I really hope that after this, you get your heads out of your asses and start throwing some feelings around, just saying” Melissa says, shaking her head.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Stiles answers, apparently finding a very interesting spot on the floor. Melissa only sighs and rolls her eyes.

 

“I’ll bring Dr. Carter back to give you some instructions and then you’re good to go” she says and kisses Derek on the cheek and says “See you honey, get well soon”. She then steps in front of Stiles and kisses his forehead. “Take care of him, but please avoid catching his bug, I don’t want to have to give a shot only for you to pass out on me” she says and goes for the door, quickly disappearing down the corridor.

 

“I don’t _always_ pass out” Stiles says nonchalantly and Derek’s face says _really_ , with one thick eyebrow lifted. “Okay, I do, but don’t tell anyone” he responds, pointing an accusing finger towards Derek and the wolf raises his hands, feigning innocence.

 

Derek hears a throat clearing and looks away from Stiles to see the doctor standing in the room.

 

“How did it go?” she asks and Derek gives her a flat look. She laughs and raises her hands, much like Derek earlier. “I know, I know, it sucks but now you’ll feel better in no time” she says. “Okay, here are some instructions and some meds in case the fever rises up again. You’ll need plenty of fluids and stay off hot food. Only lukewarm food, preferably soft so it doesn’t hurt your throat. Also, no sharing tooth brushes, or water bottles or anything so that Stiles doesn’t catch it. Avoid lovey-dovey stuff, like kisses” she finishes and they both open their eyes widely.

 

“I… we- we’re not together!” Stiles almost shouts and the doctor frowns.

 

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to assume anything, it’s just that you two seemed very close. I’m sorry” she says sheepishly.

 

“It’s fine. Are we good to go? I think we’re good to go” Stiles says in a rush and picks his phone up form where he left it on the doctor’s desk. “Thank you so much for everything. Derek say thank you”. He shakes the doctor’s hand, grabs the prescription and then takes Derek’s wrist to pull him away from the table and to the door.

 

Derek nods in gratitude and mouths a thank you before following the teen to the entrance, limping a little, still stiff from the shot. Stiles keeps tugging until they are in the parking lot and Derek is finally able to stop him.

 

“Stiles!” Derek rasps as loud as he can, “stop, just stop!”

 

Stiles stops and takes quick breaths through his mouth, looking down at the concrete of the lot, “sorry! Sorry, I- I’m sorry she assumed that, I crossed the line kissing your hand and petting your hair and every other weird thing I did. I know you don’t feel that way about me, and it’s fine because, you know, king of unrequited love here” Stiles says, chuckling self-deprecatingly, “but that doesn’t mean I get to throw my stupid feelings all ove- _mphmm_ ” Stiles squeaks indignantly at Derek’s hand over his mouth.

 

“Stiles, just shut up and listen to me,” Derek says softly as not to hurt his throat any more, and looks at Stiles in the eyes, making sure he has his full attention “you didn’t do anything wrong over there, you were just making sure anything wasn’t too uncomfortable for me, you were looking out for me, and I appreciate that, I really do” Derek continues, and steps closer to the other boy, hesitantly lifting a hand up to touch Stiles’ cheek. “Besides, I thought I was throwing _my_ feelings all over _you._ ” Derek strokes Stiles’ face, running his fingers through his messy hair and closes the gap that’s still between them to place a soft, yet firm, kiss on Stiles’ forehead and then bump their noses together in a sort of eskimo-kiss.

 

“You- what?!” Stiles says when Derek steps back, enough to have some breathing space, but not letting go, “you have feelings for me?” he continues and Derek nods in response, eyes crinkling at the corners when Stiles gapes at him.

 

Derek feels a hand on his forehead and swats at it.

 

“Are you sure is not the fever talking?” Stiles asks and Derek rolls his eyes, “Okay, just making sure” Stiles responds, lifting his hands up to feign innocence, “wow, you do have feelings for me” he says with a dopey face and Derek laughs softly, shaking his head in exasperation. A shiver runs down Derek’s body, ruining the moment and he remembers that he is running a fever still. Being sick _sucks_.

“Oh God, I’m the worst, you’re sick and we’re still here in the parking lot standing like idiots. Come on big guy, let’s get you home” Stiles says, taking Derek’s hand and they walk the few meters they still have left to Stiles’ Jeep.

 

Derek falls asleep on the way to the loft and when they arrive, he’s woken up by long fingers stroking down his face. “We’re here” Stiles whispers, unbuckling Derek and himself before getting out of the car. They take the crappy elevator up to the loft and Stiles leaves Derek on his bed while he goes to the kitchen to get some water.

 

“Here” Stiles says giving the glass to Derek, “you need to drink something; the painkiller should have taken effect by now, right? You’re feeling better?” he asks and Derek nods, smiling, and takes small, careful sips out of the glass. Derek’s eyelids start to droop so Stiles lifts the covers for Derek to get in and tucks him in tightly, “get some sleep Der, you’ll feel better afterwards” Stiles says and starts to make his way to the kitchen but Derek holds onto his hand, patting the other side of the bed when Stiles turns around. “You want me to lie down with you?” he says frowning in confusion.

 

“Yes, please”, Derek responds and Stiles softens his features and rounds the bed to lie down next to Derek, leaving a careful gap between them. Derek rolls his eyes and scoots closer to Stiles, putting an arm around him, closing his eyes and sighing in contentment. When he opens his eyes, their faces are only centimeter away and he can’t help but drop his gaze to the boy’s lips. Stiles does the same, swallowing loudly. Derek doesn’t know who kisses who first, but doesn’t care because Stiles’ lips are warm and a bit chapped from when he was chewing nervously on them that morning, when Derek’s fever was high and couldn’t stop shivering, but they are perfect, because _Stiles_. The kiss is chaste, way too short but very sweet. That’s when Derek opens his eyes wide in realization: Stiles is going to get sick because of him!

 

“Stiles! No, you’ll get sick, this is exactly what we shouldn’t have being doing!” Derek exclaims in horror. Stiles dives in again, murmuring “worth it” before capturing Derek’s bottom lip, lingering for a few seconds before releasing it. He bumps his nose with Derek’s and rubs his cheek with it, getting another sigh out of the wolf. “Worth it”, Derek confirms grinning and rearranges them both to a better sleeping position: his face lying on Stiles’ chest, entwining their fingers together, while the boy’s other hand runs through Derek’s jet black hair.

 

“Sleep now”, Stiles whispers and Derek closes his eyes, letting sleep take over him.

 

 

 

 

And when Stiles is lying face down on the exam table, tears running down his face and about to pass out while Melissa gives him the “dreaded antibiotic”, and Derek asks, holding Stiles’ hand, running his fingers through his messy hair: “still worth it?” the boy responds between sobs: “still worth it”.


End file.
